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In Touch: June

4th June 2021

In this month’s edition of In Touch we highlight some of the special events we’ve celebrated recently – most notably the 100th anniversary of our first royal visit on 28th May 1921, when King George V and Queen Mary came to Whiteley to officially open the Village.

As you’ll read, their visit was a big, albeit very pleasant surprise to our then Trustees, who had been led to believe by the Palace that the visit was unlikely to happen! But with just 4 weeks’ notice they managed to get the village prepared and organised a very successful event for their Majesties as the lovely old photos we’ve featured show. In commemoration of that visit, we were delighted to welcome HM Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey and his wife who met with residents, staff and volunteers and planted commemorative trees  – just as the King and Queen did all those years ago. Our charity could not do all the things it does without the support of our amazing volunteers, and we were very proud to celebrate their work as part of national Volunteers’ Week at the start of June. To help us raise awareness of their contribution, we welcomed a VIP volunteer – our local MP and Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, who worked with our Clubhouse Team to prepare take away and chips and then helped deliver them to some of our most vulnerable residents. Read more about his visit and other news from our charity in June’s In Touch here.